Over Labor Day weekend I wanted to clear out the fridge from any and all perishable items which basically means milk… so I decided to bake some biscuits per a GChat conversation I had with a friend a few weeks prior (paraphrased below):

Friend: so what are you doing after work today?
me: rehearsal, i ate this morning… so i’m fairly full at the moment
Friend: ah, ok. dinner out then? we’re thinking popeyes but not sure yet
me: i like popeye’s biscuits
Friend: i have been making my own biscuits lately so we usually skip it. it’s super easy takes about 5 min to prep and 10 min to bake
me: what recipe? i might want to try some of my own then
Friend: I don’t remember off the top of my head. but this is very similar to mine if not identical. http://blog.kitchenmage.com/2008/01/simple-flaky-bi.html
Friend: same ingredients, not positive about the ratio but looks about right. you can also sub milk with butter milk or add cheese and jalepenios whatever floats your boat
me: where do you get the buttermilk?
Friend: you can make it or buy it, a little bit of lemon juice in milk will apparently turn it itno buttermilk. if you are tired / lazy like me, i just put the whole thing in a pan and score it then break it up when it comes out so i don’t always make tiny little rounds. if it gets too wet then just do it this way: it will bake up fine, it’s very forgiving. if you are even lazier use self rising flour and skip salt and baking powder, it’s premixed with it. i know cuz i got the flour by accident and didn’t know what it was. oh…and no need for a food processor i just use a fork. for me to get the food processor out woudl be more work than i would like to do but i usually make a very small batch (4 biscuits) so I can manage with a fork quickly enough.
me: looks simple enough, and aside from the milk i have most everything else at home anyway
Friend: they are great b/c leftovers make great breakfast
me: lol

The things I bake / cook / whatever because of a simple conversation with friends. 😉 Anyway, so I figured why not give it a shot. I wanted to clean out the perishable items regardless and clean out the pantry so it would be easier to start fresh when I return from my trip… so let’s give it a shot.

From the recipe sent to me from Kitchen Mage

INGREDIENTS
All-purpose flour – 2-1/4 cups
Salt – 3/4 tsp
Sugar – 1 tsp
Baking powder – 4 tsp
Butter (very cold) – 1/3 cup
Milk (very cold) – 1 cup

INSTRUCTIONS
1: Preheat oven to 450°
2: Place flour, salt, sugar and baking powder in food processor and pulse for a few seconds to combine.
3: Cut butter into small pieces and add to food processor. Pulse half a dozen times and check for the size of the butter pieces. Repeat if necessary until the butter is in pieces roughly the size of peas.
4: Put flour mixture in a mixing bowl and add the cold milk. Toss together gently until barely combined. I use the little white plastic tool in the picture to lift the dough from the side of the bowl and dump it on top of the rest of the dough.
5: As soon as the dough holds together, turn it out on a lightly floured counter. Gently “knead” the dough a few strokes until it is a mostly a cohesive ball.
6: Roll the dough into a rectangle 1/2-3/4 inch thick, depending on how tall you like your biscuits. Cut into 2 inch circles, you should get ~6, and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. (See note about leftover dough.)
7: Bake at 450° for 8-10 minutes. Butter and eat while still warm.

NOTES
– I use a food processor to cut up the butter for biscuits, pie crusts etc. If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a large fork, a pair of dull knives, or just rub the butter and flour gently between your fingers to create the same effect. Your hands will warm the butter a little bit, so if you have time to chill the dough briefly after doing this, do – your biscuits will be flakier.
– There will be some dough left over after you cut the biscuits. Unless you need all of the biscuits for this meal, smoosh it into a ball, wrap it in plastic and stick it in the refrigerator until the next morning. They will be a bit better than if the dough is rerolled immediately.
– I use one of those plastic cutting boards you can pick up for a buck or so because it contains all of the mess and makes cleanup a snap.

Obviously I have a penchant for changing up items and this recipe appears to have a bit of flexibility when it comes to adding / subtracting / substituting ingredients so I decided to finish off the remainder of my bread flour and used the all-purpose flour for the difference thereafter. Thus why I ended up calling my biscuit recipe the biscuit bread recipe. I even went so far as to put the dough into my tray of mini-loaves for good measure.

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